I can’t believe it’s already been almost two weeks ago that I waved England goodbye. We’ve had such a successful show at the Candid Artis Trust gallery. 75 Exhibitors this year! I felt so proud of my classmates. All the work just came together so well in this gorgeous gallery.

After a nervous week, on Saturday I could finally switch into party mode at ‘friends and family day’. Family and best friends all flew over from the Netherlands (isn’t that amazing?!) to check out my work and celebrate with me. It felt great to be standing there with my baby in my arms and to think back to what an important year it has been.

Below some pictures of the show. I was so overwhelmed that I only shot some fast pictures with my phone, so apologies for any bad quality.

Special thanks go to Zaou Vaughan for providing me with the most gorgeous needle felted puppets to show of the main characters from my picture book ‘Looking for Tom‘.

As my last post was already saying, it is and has been relatively quiet here this last year. Of course I completely underestimated finishing my Masters in the midst of being a freshman mum. As my Scottish friend Duncan says so eloquently: the sledgehammer of love hit me really hard.
So, I have been very strict with my time and cut back immensely on computer hours. And YES, after months of going from cramps from smiling at my daughter’s firsts to cramps from drawing like a mad woman (had to make up for my maternity leave)… I made it!!! Next week I will be standing very proudly between my oh so talented classmates at the MA Children’s Book Illustration Graduation Exhibition in Candid Arts Trust Gallery, London.

So thankful for all the help from my tutors and family. I would never have made it without them.